Singapore: Indians spent a whopping USD 575 million, mostly in shopping, in Singapore during the first nine months of this year, city-state`s tourism board said today.

The spending puts Indian tourist in the third biggest money-spending position in the Singapore tourist market, after the Indonesians, who spent USD 1.58 billion and the Chinese who spent USD .95 billion during the January-September period.

The Indian tourist spending increased by 30 per cent year-on-year, the Indonesian 32 per cent and the Chinese 28 per cent, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said.

The Indians and Chinese tourists mostly spent on shopping while the Indonesians had healthcare-related expenditure, the STB said.

Overall, the January-September 2010 tourism receipts was USD 10.5 billion, a 47 per cent year-on-year growth due to higher per capita spending, strong visitor arrivals, as well as contribution from the Integrated Resorts.

The STB estimates its collection from tourist spending for this year would be between USD 13.6 billion and USD 14.13 billion.

It said 76,000 Indian tourists visited Singapore in October, an increase of 12 per cent year-on-year, keeping India as the city`s fifth largest tourist generating market.

Tourist arrivals from Indonesian increased by 31 per cent y-on-y to 179,000 in October, China 31 per cent to 93,000, Malaysia 19 per cent to 83,000 and Australia 6 per cent to 77,000. The top five markets accounted for 52 per cent of the total tourists in October, it said.

Singapore`s total tourist arrivals in October increased by 15.8 per cent to 978,000, said the STB. Average Singapore hotel room rates in October increased by 16.2 per cent y-on-y to USD 163.